I do worry too that we have some sort of negative chemistry between the fans and the players, and that might be contributing to the bad finishing and the silly errors at the back. Eg I don’t think the goals we conceded against Villa were system errors (which is a plus in the column for RDZ’s coaching) but it doesn’t take away from the fact that we simply need to score, and ultimately win some games to build a sense of momentum and confidence, among players and fans.
The more positive outlook is, if RDZ often takes time to really start getting results playing his way, it would probably look like what we are seeing right now. We’d ideally have one more win in there somewhere so far, and with better finishing we would have had a couple. So hopefully we’ll get there.
The other thing is, taking him at his word about the physical condition of the players, it’s in some part players needing to actually get fit (Solanke, Maddison, Kudus, Porro) and in some part players like Savio and Marmoush needing to get comfortable that they are the key players here, not the supporting act (his comments around them being ‘the protagonists) and that’s a different kind of fitness and expectation because they’re consistently starting, not coming into a settled side against a tired opposition.
Where I’m concerned, or where players shouldn’t be struggling with fitness, is Tel, Tonali, Fernandes, VDV, JPVH, Gray. But maybe this all just adds to the sense of disconnection. Most of our attack is finding its way or unfit, most of our midfield and defence is settling in and building new connections. So maybe this is just the tough period we have to get through. It’s the consequence of levelling up the squad and trying to do it all in one window. We just don’t have a settled side that is fit and firing, for one reason or another.
I do think we’ll ultimately be ok. This may be a transitional season rather than a memorable one, but I think we’ll get there. Arteta had an 8th place finish. Hopefully we’ll put it all together in time to have a great FA Cup run this season. I do like that our owners showed a lot of patience with Frank - I think he was the wrong guy but I think to go all in on RDZ and his signings, to then look for someone else if the tough run extends…I’m not sure who else we get that does better with this specific group of players. I think we just need to let it all work itself through. But it’s gonna be tough, and there’s probably going to be some nervous times still until we get there.
